Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) Short Interest Update

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) saw a significant decrease in short interest in February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 6,640,000 shares, a decrease of 13.5% from the January 31st total of 7,680,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 629,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 10.5 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MRUS. State of Wyoming purchased a new position in Merus in the fourth quarter valued at about $48,000. Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its holdings in Merus by 27.3% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 1,400 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $59,000 after buying an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. acquired a new stake in shares of Merus in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $60,000. Avior Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Merus in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $76,000. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Merus in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $84,000. 96.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MRUS has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on shares of Merus in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $84.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Merus from $89.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Needham & Company LLC decreased their price objective on shares of Merus from $85.00 to $83.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 28th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Merus in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Merus in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. They set a “buy” rating and a $73.00 target price for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $85.77.

Merus Stock Up 3.7 %

NASDAQ MRUS opened at $46.29 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.17 billion, a P/E ratio of -11.72 and a beta of 1.11. Merus has a 52-week low of $37.77 and a 52-week high of $61.61. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $42.14 and a 200 day moving average price of $46.65.

Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.41) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.89) by $0.48. Merus had a negative net margin of 680.61% and a negative return on equity of 38.89%. The company had revenue of $9.14 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.57 million. On average, equities research analysts expect that Merus will post -3.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Merus

Merus N.V., a clinical-stage immuno-oncology company, engages in the development of antibody therapeutics in the Netherlands. Its bispecific antibody candidate pipeline includes Zenocutuzumab (MCLA-128), which is in a phase 2 clinical trials for the treatment of patients with metastatic breast cancer and castration-resistant prostate cancer, as well as in Phase 1/2 clinical trials for the treatment of solid tumors that harbor Neuregulin 1.